Onto Something
by uchiha.s
Summary: It bothered him that she lived alone. [ShikaSaku]


Hehe... it's bad when I have insomnia. Yah. This is just a stupid little...thing. I don't know. I'm going insane.

-cough-

Anyway! Enjoy. Also read my new fic "Fault Lines"

Sitting across from Haruno Sakura made Shikamaru feel stupid. Not because she was smarter than him (because she wasn't... well, not that much anyway) and not even because he'd been coerced into this by Naruto, a sad event certainly. No. He felt stupid because instead of being bored to death and annoyed by Sakura, he found himself totally mesmerized.

Something clearly was very, very wrong here.

Shikamaru listened as Sakura chatted about her latest happenings with Tsunade, about going shopping with Ino, about a bad day of training that had occurred recently, about her cat—basically about nothing. He nodded occasionally, when the tone of her voice indicated that some sort of response was required. He recalled reading an article she had written about chakra depletion and found himself irritated. She was a stupid troublesome little twit who obsessed over Sasuke like a crackwhore over crack, and yet the woman was smart. And annoyingly sexy.

"And did you know he wrote an entire book on that theory? It's just incredible to read. I was reading it on the beach the other day-my day off- and I just couldn't believe it!" Sakura's green eyes were lit up and her face was flushed from the sake. Shikamaru snorted.

"You read a book written by Gai-"

"It was a good idea!" Sakura protested. Shikamaru ignored her.

"Women like you shouldn't read. Especially not books written by that pain in the ass." Shikamaru gulped down his sake as Sakura's green eyes widened in anger.

"You misogynistic-"

"You misunderstood me. I'm not saying women in general-"

"Ugh, I knew this was a bad idea. You haven't talked until now, and you don't even have anything good to say. If Sasuke were here-"

"He'd have killed you by now for your incessant chatter. Trust me, I'm much more tolerant than he is."

Sakura's eyes were tearing up now. "No, he'd have fallen in love with me because I am intelligent enough to interpret such a theory-"

"No. He'd think it was weird and dumb, if he bothered to think about it at all. Guys like him don't fall for that."

Sakura's eyes were leaking tears and her lower lip trembled. Shikamaru cursed under his breath.

"Look, all I'm saying is-"

"I'm leaving." Sakura announced, her voice quivering. She stood up, grabbing her purse, and ran out of the restaurant. Shikamaru hit his head on the table.

"Troublesome woman." He muttered. He left some cash on the table and ran reluctantly after her.

"Wait. Sakura." He said, finding her standing at the end of the street, crying softly. It was cool outside and smelled like it was about to rain.

"Go away." She sniffed. Shikamaru sighed.

"Fine." He turned around. What was the point? Women always misunderstood him. He relished the idea of going home and sleeping til late tomorrow, then going to work and joking about the whole mess with Chouji. He stalked off towards home. It began to pour.

He couldn't sleep when he got home, though. It bugged him. Should he have tried harder to explain himself?

He flicked through a few books for awhile, but couldn't concentrate. Sakura's crying face haunted him all night.

"Fuck this." He said, tossing the book he had been reading to the side. He checked his watch. Sakura was probably already asleep, but he wanted to sleep too, and he wasn't going to be able to until he at least tried to fix things.

It was about four in the morning when he reached Sakura's apartment. She lived by herself, which for some reason annoyed Shikamaru, and always had. Something about it felt wrong. He knocked on the door impatiently, and tapped his foot. He wanted to get this whole thing over with as soon as possible.

A frazzled and rumpled looking Sakura answered the door. Unlike several hours earlier when her hair had been smooth and silky on her shoulders, it now was a cloud of pink frizz. She was wearing a large black shirt and nothing else and her makeup was smeared. She opened the door slowly, and upon seeing Shikamaru, slammed it shut.

"No-! Wait, Sakura. Ugh. This is so-"

She poked her head out. "What, let me guess. Troublesome? Well, guess what, you hurt my feelings!"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about!" Shikamaru said irritably. Sakura glowered, but opened the door a bit more.

"Fine. Come in."

She shut the door behind him and flicked on some lights. Her apartment was a little too neat and clean and the smell of cleaning fluids assaulted Shikamaru's nose.

"Well?" She folded her arms across her chest (which Shikamaru noticed, much to his annoyance, looked very soft) and raised one pink eyebrow. Shikamaru rubbed the back of his neck. Crap. What was he supposed to say now? He didn't even really remember what it was he had said that pissed her off.

"...Well... when I said that women like you shouldn't read... what I meant was... you don't need to read." He finished lamely. Sakura's expression didn't change. He swore. "...And I guess... when I said Sasuke wouldn't like you, it's because he doesn't... get... you."

"Oh really."

"Yes. Really."

"What's there to 'get'?"

"...He wouldn't get that the fact that you wrote an entire article on chakra depletion, an article that was the most professional thing I've ever read, is cool. He doesn't know..." Shikamaru drifted off. How to put this without sounding weird and lovesick? He sighed and shuffled his feet and looked up again. Sakura looked significantly less angry. This was somewhat encouraging. "He doesn't know that you aren't ugly or immature anymore. He just doesn't. A date with you would be wasted on him. That's what I meant."

Sakura had dropped her arms and was biting her nails and looking away. Her eyes looked wet again. Shikamaru swore again. Women could be impossible sometimes. You could go over to their house to apologize at four am of all hours for something that you shouldn't need to apologize for, and they'd still cry.

"...Do you think I'm smart and beautiful?" Sakura whispered. Shikamaru scowled. He hated these questions. Wasn't it obvious? He just said she was. Did he need to spell it out for her?

"That's what I just said." He snapped. "Troublesome, pain in the ass-"

She was crying again. Shikamaru slapped his hand to his forehead and moved forward, awkwardly putting a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him.

"He told me that my article was stupid, that everyone already knows enough about chakra depletion and it was a waste of space." She choked, covering her face with trembling fingers.

"Well, this is Sasuke, remember? His ideas are stupid."

"No they aren't! He's a genius!"

"I'm still smarter than him." Shikamaru retorted. "Therefore I'm right and he's wrong."

Sakura sniffled and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand like a little kid, something Shikamaru found to be ridiculously sexy. She leaned into him and rested her head against his chest.

"Thank you." She whispered. Shikamaru hesitantly put his arms around her.

As they stood there, they both thought, maybe Naruto was onto something, for setting them up.


End file.
